Saturday, November 13, 2004
TRIAL TEDIUM
I have always assumed I am, well, unusual in being completely uninterested in crime trial news. I figured everyone else was fascinated by it--if not, why else would the news channels devote so much time to covering it? Roger L. Simon makes me feel more mainstream:
The Scott Peterson trial doesn't lend itself to that sort of every-villain effect. Well, come to think of it, Ben Affleck does bear a certain resemblance...
Was the public really interested in this trial or was it just filling a vacuum on cable? One of the major results of the OJ case has been the nearly endless parade of tedious trials on television, none of them remotely as interesting as watching the Juice get away with cold-blooded murder in front of our eyes. ... I have no opinion. I switched off the case months ago.I did watch the OJ verdict, but I was in LA at the time which added a certain piquancy. Besides, there was something more profound about the OJ trial. My (now deceased) grandmother who couldn't see that well assumed every black man she spotted on the cover of a magazine was OJ; every white man was "Robert Shapiro!" (You have to add in a thick accent to get the full effect.)
The Scott Peterson trial doesn't lend itself to that sort of every-villain effect. Well, come to think of it, Ben Affleck does bear a certain resemblance...
